


Change

by Monday1113



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Attack, Coping, Gen, Recovery, blind, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 14:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monday1113/pseuds/Monday1113
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of his attack, how will Lloyd cope with the changes he now has to deal with?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

                The night was dark, and clouds blocked out the moonless sky, hiding what little light the stars could have given to illuminate the situation in the tight, secluded alleyway.

                A young man struggled against his assailants, hair matted with sweat. Fresh air felt cool against his skin after a day in a suffocatingly small, dank cellar. “What do you want with me?”

                They didn’t answer him, instead, they threw him against the wall, his spine bashing against the bricks, stunning the blonde long enough for them to grab him again.

Hands held him upright, razor-sharp claws dug into his skin. Blood ran down his arms in thin streams. He thrashed under their grip, a heavy tail wrapping around his waist, pinning his legs close together.

“I believe you pathetic humans have an expression for this…” Skales hissed, grabbing a fistful of soft blonde hair, jerking the young man’s head back so he was looking up at the bare sky. His face was highlighted with a sickly green light from the nearby street lamp.

“L-let me go!” He shouted. Red eyes reflected his fear as he squirmed, trying to free himself. The tail around his stomach and legs tightened, and Lloyd had to bite his lips. In the back of his throat, stomach acid and what remained of his last meal sat, burning. Swallowing once the grip loosened, he took a deep breath, coughing and spitting to get rid of the taste.

Arctic blue scales glinted in with a mixture of the pale moon, and the unnatural green glow from the lamp. His claws scraped against the boy’s scalp, cutting it as they curled tightly in the mop of hair. Blood welled up in the cuts, sliding down the fine blonde hairs, and down his scalp. His hypnotic eyes seemed to light up at the sight of the pale, beaten child, his skin bruised a mottled purple and blue, tinges of black and yellow mixing in. Cuts of varying depths and lengths slowly bled, showing through his ripped clothes.

The teen in green was like a mouse, pinned down by a cat. Red eyes narrowed, yet exhausted, trained on the blue general as he circled around the young ninja. His body shook in fear as he saw the vial of pale colored powder being mixed with water, before it was poured over his eyes.

The mixture _burned_ his eyes. He could feel it.

It slid down towards his ears, and into his hair. The burn faded as it continued into his hair, before cooling. It felt dangerously cold. Slowly, the light blue slid down the outline of his nose. Lloyd could practically _smell_ the chill of the hardening liquid.

Lloyd did the only logical thing to do for someone in his situation.

He opened his mouth and screamed.

The shadowy streets echoed his unearthly, near inhuman screeching wails of pain, but did nothing to help him. No one heard him, so no one came to his aid.

No tears slid down his face as the pain continued to burn, causing him pain he had never experienced. This wasn’t anything like being tossed across the shore of the Dark Island and breaking his leg, or like trying to walk on the broken bone. The pain that was consuming him was like fire and freezing rain wrapping around him at the same time. Two forces that should never be paired together, forces that should never coexist, attacking every nerve cell. Fire exploded across his brain, Lloyd had _never_ felt so much pain in his life.

The darkness didn’t arrive soon enough for Lloyd, but when it did come for him, he embraced it gladly.

Any relief was welcomed, as far as he was concerned.

* * *

 

When he came to once again, the pain was a dull, muted throb.

Everything felt numb. To Lloyd, it wouldn’t have surprised him if he was floating, suspended somehow in nothingness. He wouldn’t have even been surprised if he was dead.

“Lloyd” A distant voice said, as if they were shouting at him from a great distance. Slowly, his mind tried to clear itself of the fog.

“Hang on…got you…” The same voice kept talking to him, still just as distant and unrecognizable. Something rough and scratchy was pulled off of his face, and Lloyd felt his voice give as he tried screaming again, cutting off into a pitiful, guttural moan of pain. His eyes were burning. They were burning so badly, and he was so weak. Unable to withstand the agony, he went limp, mind cutting off. In seconds, it was like someone had unplugged a television suddenly.

Lloyd wasn’t there anymore. His body was, but he was gone.

Out like a light.

* * *

 

Kai was the one who had managed to drive by the right alleyway at the right time. He was the one who saw the long, smeared trail of blood by the pale, emaciated arm that stuck out from under a pile of rubble. Green fabric was stained with the red liquid. Frayed cuts and what appeared to be burn markings decorated the fabric.  He had run over to the arm, flipping it over, surprised that it was warm; that the person it was (hopefully) connected to was alive. There was a pulse. It was weak, but it was there, fluttering gently beneath his fingers. He didn’t want to hold too tightly, afraid that if he held the too slim, boney wrist the wrong way, it would snap.

Without even moving anything, he could see the person would need immediate help. Pulling out his phone, he dialed 911. Kai didn’t have time to let them pick up, or figure out where exactly he was. This person needed help.

Hands bare, he began to slowly sift the pile of rubble away from the body. More blood. Some of it was dry, and some of it was fresh. How this person hadn’t died was a mystery. The knees of his old, battered jeans were being stained with the dark liquid that surrounded the body.

His hands slowly moved up, expecting to find hair, or a face, but met a rough sack and thin twine holding it shut. Not wanting to hurt the person further, he gingerly untied the twine, and pulled the body out from under the rubble. His strong arms encircled the weak, definitely male, victim, and that was when Kai saw it.

This was Lloyd. The green gi was unmistakably his.

“Lloyd…” Kai mumbled, hardly able to believe it. He had been gone for a week, and all this time…he was so close. The apartment was only a few blocks away. Guilt ate away at him. How many times had he and the others walked by this exact alley? How many times had _others_ gone by here?

He wrapped his arms around Lloyd, pulling him closer. “Hang on, Lloyd. I’ve got you.” He said, swallowing hard. The pale boy was burning up with a fever; Kai could feel it as Lloyd’s forehead, hidden by the sack, pressed against his arm. However, Lloyd’s arms and legs felt cold as ice.

With trembling fingers, Kai gently peeled the sack off Lloyd’s face. He could see how flushed his face was from the fever, but then he saw the beginning of the almost clear blue…substance that was crossing over his face. Running a finger over the trail that had grown onto Lloyd’s cheek, he shivered. It was cold, like ice.

Lloyd groaned softly, and then coughed, his breath shuddery and weak.

He didn’t have time to waste. Lloyd needed help _now_ , and Kai needed to know why there was ice on Lloyd’s face.

 _‘Did he try using his powers to cool himself down? That doesn’t make sense…he could’ve--should’ve-- been able to free himself from that crap he was under…’_ Kai shook his head, and began to pull the hood the sack had formed around the green ninja’s face away, finding more and more of the cold stuff on Lloyd’s face.

It was a nightmare to look at.

The substance had coated his eyes completely, but Kai could swear he saw the red of Lloyd’s eyes under it, wide with fear. It trailed down the sides of his face, trickling into his left ear, and into the right side of his hair, freezing the messy locks in place. His mouth was agape, dry, and the liquid had traced down the sides of his nose, curling inwards, going inside slightly.

Quickly, the sun emerged, casting a ray across the reflective surface of the ice, right over Lloyd’s open eyes.

His breath hitched, and he coughed, twisting weakly as if he wanted to get away from the light. Lloyd moaned in obvious pain, before he went limp.

Panicking, Kai checked desperately for a pulse, relieved at the dull throb of his heart, pumping blood through his body, keeping him alive. Kai held the sack so it covered his eyes, supporting Lloyd’s head with the crook of his arm. It was too risky to try moving Lloyd out towards the street to wait for help. _‘They’ll be here soon…any minute now, they’ll be here. They’ll help Lloyd, and then we’ll help him.’_ Kai told himself, trying to stay calm, as if doing that would help Lloyd.

A few seconds turned into a few minutes, and sure enough, an ambulance’s wailing sirens came closer and closer, paramedics and police officers swarmed around him.

A gurney was wheeled out for Lloyd, and without hesitation, Kai let them take him from his arms. He watched, silent and in shock, like he was a little kid instead of an adult. They gently set Lloyd down, pulling a white sheet up to his waist, belting him onto the gurney so he wouldn’t fall off during the ride. Against such a crisp, bleached white sheet, Lloyd looked as pale as Zane was, if not even more so.

“Don’t uncover his eyes.” Kai said once he found his voice, pushing himself off the ground so he was standing. His pants were soaked with the puddle of blood that had been around Lloyd, but he could care less. “There’s something really wrong, and when I did, it seemed to hurt him.” He explained, getting curious looks from the paramedics, who took a quick look at the ice, and covered Lloyd’s eyes again, this time with a soaked wash cloth, laying the damp towel over his eyes.

Kai watched as they moved around Lloyd, assessing all of his easily seen injuries. By the time they closed the door, and started driving away, Lloyd has a drip in his arm, and a breathing mask over his nose and mouth. The words ‘critical condition’, ‘blind’, ‘infected’, ‘blood loss’, and ‘ICU’ were tossed out. The paramedics talked fast, moving just as fast as they made sure Lloyd was ready to be transported.

They were making sure he had his best chances of living through the short ride to the hospital.

Never before in his life had he seen an ambulance drive away so fast. Its lights were revolving rapidly, and the sirens blared out their cry as it zoomed down the streets towards the hospital. Kai watched as it disappeared from sight, taking Lloyd away.

_‘Please be okay, Lloyd…’_


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark.

That was the first thing he noticed.

Then the pain hit him. It was white-hot, like being jabbed with tiny, hollow needles, like he had been run over, like he had been fired out of a cannon, and flew straight into a brick wall, only to continue falling down to the pavement far below.

It hurt.

Lloyd shifted his shoulders, and found himself propped up slightly against pillows. They were soft, and he could tell there were at least two, meaning he wasn’t home. If he was at home, he’d only have one, and usually, his head ended up _under_ it, not on it. Half the time, Lloyd didn’t use a pillow. He’d just smash it in into the gap between his mattress and the frame of his bed.

Slowly, testing his injuries, he rolled his head to the left, twisting his neck, and keeping his shoulders the way they were against the pillows. It didn’t hurt, but he could feel his body throbbing in pain, on the off-beat of his heartbeat.

 _Thud._ Pain. _Thud._ Pain. _Thud._ Pain.

He groaned, struggling to blink, trying to clear his eyes to see where he was.

That was when he realized something was wrong. He couldn’t fully close his eyes, and he couldn’t see. Lloyd was panicking. Something to his left beeped frantically, the sound faint to him. _‘What’s going on? What happened?’_ Lloyd began moving his fingers, a wave of pain shot up his arm, burning his nerves, making him grimace in agony.

The beeping sped up, still quiet, and beside him, something moved. Lloyd felt the mattress under him shift. A chair scooted back, scraping against the floor, loud, but soft at the same time. “Lloyd?” Someone asked; his mind too fuzzy to identify whose it was. Rough, strong fingers brushed the top of his hand. He jerked his hand away, scooting over. His body protested against the sudden movement. Lloyd moaned, adjusting himself so it hurt less, and the hand reached out again, stopping an inch away from Lloyd’s hand.

Kai sighed. He was glad that Lloyd was awake, but he was out of it. Completely unaware about where he was or how long it had been since he last woke up. “I’ll be right back, Lloyd.” He mumbled softly, getting up and walking out of the small room with the glass wall that Lloyd hadn’t been moved from in two weeks.

It had only been a week and a half since they had managed to stop the ice’s progression.

“Sir?” One of the student nurses said, seeing Kai out in the hallway. She peered around him, and looked into Lloyd’s room. “Is one of your friends on their way to come get you?” She knew he hardly left that room, unless someone else was coming to watch over the pale, near-comatose boy. She tapped her long, thin fingers against the handle of the cart, some food in covered dishes, labeled with room numbers, and patient names, and small cups of pills, also labeled. Kai could see how nervous she was. She constantly shifted from foot to foot, toes curling and uncurling in her hospital issued shoes.

He shook his head. “No, he woke up.”

The young woman nodded, dark brown hair falling past her headband. A hand left the cart, brushing the locks back. “I’ll go let Nurse Jackie know then…” she began to push the cart away down the hall. “After I finish with this, of course…”

Kai nodded. “Alright. Just hurry though. I think he might need something for the pain.

“Gotcha.” With that, the girl began moving with haste down the hall, turning the corner, clearly struggling with the cart.

Kai went back into Lloyd’s room, sitting back down. He pulled out his phone, sending a quick text.

**He’s up.**

* * *

 

Jay heard his phone buzz, watching the screws in front of him on the table jitter around as it vibrated. Setting down his tools, he looked at his phone.

**He’s up.**

Jay’s eyes widened in surprise, and he got up, walking out of his workshop, and quickly dashing up the stairs onto their porch, running inside. “Nya! He’s up!”

The love of his life turned a box of decorations in her arms. “Really? He’s awake?” A smile grew on her face, and she set the box down on the floor. “Jay, that’s great!”

“I know!” He said, smiling uncontrollably. “…Do you think the others know?” He pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts, finding everyone’s numbers, selecting them for a group text. Zane, Cole, Garmadon and Misako, Wu, everyone who might not have known yet. Jay put the exact same thing Kai had sent him.

**He’s up.**

As soon as it was sent, Jay put his phone away, and hugged Nya. She hugged back, smiling as she pressed her head against his shoulder.

“We should probably go get Kai…he probably hasn’t left Lloyd’s side since yesterday…”

“Definitely.” Nya agreed, laughing a little, remembering how protective Kai had been towards him since he found Lloyd. Her laughter stopped. “Jay…how do you think Lloyd’s going to take the news?”

He sighed, brushing a hand through his hair; the other hand rubbed his cheek, wiping oil from his hand on his face. “I don’t know, Nya…we’ll have to wait and see.”

* * *

 

In the small hospital room, the boy kept moving his head back and forth, trying to see anything around him that would let him know where he was. Lloyd was panicking, and could feel his heart pounding in his chest, beating painfully against his ribs.

Kai sat down in the chair beside his bed, reaching over for Lloyd’s hand. “Lloyd, can you hear me?”

He stopped moving, and turned his head towards Kai, the fuzz leaving his mind a little, letting him focus on Kai’s voice. Lloyd nodded a little. “K-Kai?” There was a cracked dryness in Lloyd’s voice. It was scratchy and ragged from disuse, having been stuck inside of Lloyd for the past two weeks as he slept.

Kai nodded, smiling a little. “Yeah, Lloyd. It’s me. How’re you feeling?” He kept his sentences simple, and his tone light, not wanting to freak Lloyd out any more than he already was.

The boy lying on the bed coughed a little, his throat dry. “Hurts...”

“What hurts?” Kai asked, leaning forward, placing his elbows on the edge of the bed. “Head? Eyes? Chest? Legs? Your arms?” With each question, Kai was panicking a little more.

“Everything…” Lloyd murmured, reaching up to pull the breathing mask off. “What’s this?”

The corner of his mouth twitched up. “It’s a breathing mask, Lloyd. To help make sure you kept breathing, and that you got enough oxygen.” He got up, leaning over Lloyd, removing his hand from the mask, moving it back into place. “Keep it on until they say to take it off.”

“But it hurts…”

“I know it does, but you need to keep it on. Lloyd, Nurse Jackie’s going to be here soon, and she’ll give you something to help with the pain, okay?”

Lloyd laughed a little, his ribs complaining a little from it, making his chuckle peter off. “Why are you talking to me like I’m a little kid, Kai?”

“You just woke up. I thought you might need me to keep things simple.” He said.

There was a knock at the door, and the same nursing assistant was standing there. “Sir, she wanted me to ask if he needs anything to help with the pain…also, she wanted to know if he thinks he can swallow that tea he was given. It’d be a good idea to give him some more, just so that stuff doesn’t spread anymore…”

“Tea?” Lloyd asked, looking in the general direction of the girl. “I think I could drink some…”

She smiled. “That’s good! I’ll let her know. Since you’re talking, do you need some pain killers?”

He nodded a little.

“Alright, I’ll let Nurse Jackie know, and she’ll be right here with that.” The girl said, smiling and turning on the ball of her foot, toe catching on the doorframe as she stepped back into the hall.

Kai laughed a little as the girl left. “She’s always pretty jittery like that. Stumbling and tripping over everything. Maybe she likes you.” Kai teased.

Lloyd snorted a little. “Why would she like me?”

“Oh please, you know chicks find you cute.” Kai said, rolling his eyes. “Don’t pretend you don’t notice it.”

“I do, but I chose to ignore it.”

He shook his head. “You sure are a strange one, Garmadon.”

* * *

 

Lloyd was propped up in his bed, the breathing mask gone.

“Are you ready for some more tea?” Kai asked, holding the cooled cup in his hand, having to help Lloyd get the straw into his mouth.

“I guess.” He reached out for the glass, and Kai handed it to him, Lloyd sipping the tea, forgoing the straw this time. “It’s bitter…”

“Your uncle said it would help. He’s the tea expert, and he said it had to be bitter.” Kai explained.

Lloyd shrugged, and continued drinking it, getting used to the unpleasant flavor of the tea. As he swallowed it, the question in the back of his mind came up to bother him. “Kai…why can’t I see?”

He swallowed. Kai had been hoping that Lloyd wasn’t going to ask him that until anyone else was in the room. Kai tapped his fingers against the edge of the chair, teeth worrying his lower lip, chewing lightly on it. “Lloyd…when I found you, there was a bag over your head…” He started, taking the cup from the recovering teen. “And when I took it off, there was this…stuff, on your face. It was covering your eyes. As soon as light hit it though, you screamed like it was causing you pain.”

Lloyd swallowed, not liking where this was going. “K-Kai…?”

“They’ve been trying the last two weeks to try removing it and nothing’s worked…it kept growing over your face until about a week ago, when Sensei brought that tea. It seemed to have stopped it from growing.”

He stayed silent, taking the information in. “So I can’t…I can’t see?”

Kai shook his head. “Even if they could remove it, Lloyd, they said that the damage it caused to your eyes would be irreversible.” He hung his head, upset that this had happened to Lloyd.

Lloyd swallowed again. “Kai… Am I…?”

He nodded, even though Lloyd couldn’t see it past the icy covering, and the bandages hiding his eyes from the light. Kai spoke again, but the words didn’t quite reach Lloyd’s ears. Instead, the words spun around him, echoing loudly in his head.

“I’m sorry Lloyd, but you’re blind.”


	3. Chapter 3

A week passed, and Lloyd was finally discharged from the hospital. The bandages were still around his eyes, until they either found a way to get the ice off his face, or until they found a better way to shield his eyes from being burned by the intensified light as it bounced off the ice’s surface.

Garmadon placed his hand on Lloyd’s shoulder, his grip light as he began to lead Lloyd out of the hospital, and out to the car. “Son, are you sure you don’t want to use a wheelchair? Just until your leg is fully better?”

He huffed, irritated. His leg wasn’t bothering him, and he could walk fine. “Dad, I’m sure I don’t want to.” Lloyd knew that Garmadon knew that his leg was perfectly fine, and that he could walk on his own, no crutches, no wheelchairs. Lloyd took a small breath through his nose, frowning at how little air that got him now. In the time before he was given the tea, the ice—as the doctors had been referring to it—had gone from being barely inside his nose, to getting close to the back, closing off most of the airway.

Not to mention his sense of smell. Things he used to be able to smell—things that most people didn’t take the time to notice the fragrance to—he couldn’t smell anymore. The few things he had been able to smell had to be pungent, and strong. The scent of the fabric softener his mom used on the clothes she had brought for him to wear so he didn’t have to stay in hospital pajamas was one of the fragrances he missed.

He was slowly sliding his feet across the pavement outside. The asphalt was rough, making scraping sounds as the thick soles of his slippers rubbed against it.

Even without his sense of sight, Lloyd could tell that it was bright and sunny outside. The sun warmed his cold arms, sleeves of his sweatshirt pushed up to his elbows. A gentle, cooling breeze blew past them, ruffling the fringe of hair that wasn’t hidden by the thick, navy colored band of fabric drawn across Lloyd’s eyes as a blindfold.

Garmadon stood in front of his son protectively, scared that if he didn’t something would happen to Lloyd. He could trip over an uneven part of the parking lot, or walk into a light pole or run straight into a car, or worse, get hit by one.

Lloyd could _feel_ his father’s anxiety as he guided him to the car. His father could lead Lloyd out into the middle of nowhere, and leave him, and he would never know, but he knew his father wouldn’t. “Dad…what’s wrong?” He asked, voice quiet, still strained from his screaming during his attack. He winced at the gravely tone his voice had. His voice had always been rough, but now it was more pronounced, and Lloyd didn’t like how it sounded to his own ears. He coughed, trying to clear his throat, like it would help.

He shook his head, letting go of Lloyd’s hand to unlock and open the door for Lloyd, guiding him down onto the passenger seat in the car. Garmadon noticed the way his son’s pale, slender, bones still visible, fingers gripped the edge of the seat, running over the old, nubby fabric covering it.

Tapping the edge of the seat nervously, Lloyd listened, hearing his father close the door as quietly as he could, his dominant hand, his left one, reached up, and gently playing with the thin fabric wrapped around his face. It wasn’t very soft. He could feel how scratchy it was, almost like the material used with casts for broken bones, but different.

“Lloyd,” His father said, shaking his head at the sight of his blinded son, slowly peeling up the covering. “Leave it alone.”

Pale hands fell into the boy’s lap, and he sighed. “Sorry…it’s just… I’m not used to it yet.” Lloyd left out how he felt he would never be used to it, that he would always feel lost. He reached up to brush his hair, the sound of his fingers brushing over his skin going undetected.

That was gone too.

* * *

 

Lloyd was glad he had made the decision to stay with his parents, instead of going back to the apartment to live with the others. It wouldn’t have mattered either way though. He still couldn’t do anything.

He was lying on his back on his bed, breathing calmly. To anyone else, he could have been asleep, or meditating, but he wasn’t. Lloyd’s mind was whirling with mixed emotions.

There was nothing he was allowed to do anymore.

He couldn’t help cook dinner with his mom, because he could get burned, or cut himself, or something equally horrible.

He couldn’t go take a walk outside, because he’d get lost, or go in circles, or get hit by a car, or get kidnapped as Kai had told him.

He couldn’t read a book, because he couldn’t see the words, and he couldn’t read braille _yet_.

He wasn’t allowed to go train.

He wasn’t allowed on missions anymore.

He wasn’t allowed to _be_ a ninja like he was supposed to be. Because of his blindness, he wasn’t able to be what his _destiny_ had destined him to be.

* * *

 

“Lloyd, why won’t you go to a support group?” His mother asked him, standing in the doorway of his room. His perception of things had somewhat gotten better, even if his hearing had gotten worse in his left ear.

That was the ice’s fault too.

He sighed, sitting up. “Because those groups are for _disabled_ people, mom. I’m not disabled!” Lloyd’s voice wasn’t as gruff sounding, and the tone of anger was very clear in his voice.

Misako sighed as Lloyd crossed his arms over his chest. She walked over to him slowly, sitting down beside him. Lloyd tensed, before relaxing as she put her hand on his shoulder. “I know you don’t…” She started, before shaking her head, sighing. Her thin fingers pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Sweetheart, I know you don’t want to believe it, but you heard the doctors…”

Lloyd jerked out of from under her hand, standing up, walking towards the door. “I’m not disabled!” He shouted, angry, face flushing brightly out of anger that his mother would suggest he was. He started walking down the hall, arms out in front of himself, socked feet sliding over the wood slowly. Lloyd could faintly hear Misako following him.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, stop right now.” Misako said, worried as he son continued to walk closer to the stairs. Her brow furrowed, and Garmadon could tell from where he stood in the kitchen that she was _mad_. Misako stormed forward, taking Lloyd by his wrist, guiding him down the stairs, and to the couch in the living room, making him sit forcefully. “You were attacked, Lloyd. You nearly _died_. You healed, but not everything heals, Lloyd.” She said, her words coming out strained, feeling the emotions welling up inside, like blood in a wound whose scab had been ripped off. Swallowing hard, Misako forced the image of Lloyd’s injured and battered body away, focusing on the living, breathing, and healing image of her son right in front of her. “They don’t know if that ice on your face can _be_ removed, Lloyd.”

He sighed, curling up on his side, pressing his face into the back of the couch, and his good ear against the cushion.

Lloyd was done with this conversation.

Shaking her head, Misako went to the kitchen, sighing. “He keeps shutting us out…” She said, looking up at Garmadon, brushing her bangs out of her tired eyes. He bent down, kissing her gently.

“It’s a big change to accept in such a short period of time, Misako… He’s just accepting it in his own way…” He soothed, pulling her close, rubbing her tense shoulders. Garmadon pulled away, smiling at her a little. “Sweetheart, what if we found an alternative group for him. Maybe we could find a group for him online. He wouldn’t have to rely on other people to get him there, or lead him around like he’s a little kid, which he might be more willing to do…”

She smiled up at him, kissing him. “That’s a great idea! The therapist Lloyd’s doctor recommended said she had all sorts of resources for alternative support groups.”

“We’ll give her a call; see if she can help us find one for Lloyd.”

* * *

 

Lloyd sat down at the kitchen table. He could hear his mother tapping away at the keyboard of her laptop. She slid it over to him, slipping a headset over his head. Something brushed against the side of his mouth. “There’s a microphone on this, so you can talk to the other people in the support room. They’re all using headsets, and they’ll listen to you, and talk with you.”

He turned his head towards her. “And you and dad won’t come in and listen to what we’re talking about?”

Misako laughed a little. “No, we’re going to be gone for about an hour. You get full privacy.” She kissed his cheek, shuddering a little at the chill of the icy tendril on his cheek. “Do you need me to take you to the bathroom before we leave?”

“Mom!!” He said, exasperated, mouth suspended in disbelief. “I’ll be fine.”

She smiled. “I’m just making sure, Lloyd.” Misako said, laughing a little. She noticed the corner of Lloyd’s mouth twitching up a little, finding the humor in it. “We’ll be back soon.”

“See you then.” He said dryly, propping his head up with his hand. _‘Well, I won’t_ see _you, but you’ll see me…’_ Lloyd thought, sighing a little.

“Alright, it seems our new group member’s online. How about he introduces himself…” Someone said, making Lloyd jump up a little, forgetting that he was in his ‘support group’s’  chat room. They sounded kind, and Lloyd stayed silent, waiting for the sound of the front door shutting, before he spoke.

“Uh…hey.” Lloyd said, hoping they could hear him.

“Hello!” Someone said cheerfully, a little kid. “Welcome to the cripple’s cha-“ Her voice was suddenly cut off.

“Don’t get the wrong impression. We’re not all cripples, and we don’t like to use that term. It’s derogatory.” An older voice said calmly. “I’m sorry about my daughter. She likes to open the chat room often if I’m not at my computer when it starts.”

“It’s alright.” Lloyd said. “So…who all is here?”

“Well, we all use initials, since this is an anonymous chat room. I’m CB.” They stopped talking. “You’re signed in as LG. LG; can you not see the list of who’s in chat?”

Lloyd shook his head, even though he knew they couldn’t see it. “That’s why I’m on here, CB. My parents wanted me to go on to a normal group, but I can’t see, and I didn’t want to rely on them.”

“Oh.” A new voice said, this one slightly older. “So I’m guessing you just lost your sight?”

“KK, if he just lost his sight it may be a sore subject!” A young woman said, a little irritable towards ‘KK’. “You can call me AI, LG.”

Lloyd smiled, feeling welcomed into the group just from how they talked to him, like they were already friends. “Yeah…I lost my sight about a month ago.” He tapped his feet against the legs of the chair he was sitting in. “I’m…sorta getting used to it.”

“We understand.” CB said. “Most of us know what it’s like to have to get used to changes like that.”

“Yeah, this chat room’s mostly for people who went through semi-permanent or permanent changes like that.” AI added thoughtfully. “I came here for support while recovering from a work accident.”

“…What happened, if you don’t mind me asking.” Lloyd said, tilting his head, interested about what happened to the others in this group, to see if anyone had it worse off.

“Well, you have to understand, I worked at a plant that made sparklers for parades, and big events and stuff. One of the sparklers I was testing to show to a potential buyer had been double dipped in copper nitrate, as well as potassium nitrate. It went bad fast, and I had a lot of bad burns. Two of my fingers on my right hand don’t work anymore because of it.”

“Oh…” He said. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be. I’m starting to get used to it.”

“We don’t apologize a lot here, to be honest, LG.” KK muttered. “At least, not about old stuff.”

“He didn’t know, KK!” CB and AI said at the same time, their voices full of exasperation. “Give the new guy a break.”

“So what exactly happened to you, KK?”

There was an annoyed scoff, and the sound of keys being typed on. With a sharp ping, the sound of keys clattering stopped. “There’s your answer.”

AI clucked her tongue. “Really, KK? He can’t read that!” She cleared her throat. “KK has cancer, and he had his arm amputated about a year ago.”

Lloyd nodded. “Oh.”

“I’m used to it, so don’t even say that it sucks.”

CB coughed. “Let’s get on topic for today. We were going to talk about how others react when they find out about what happened to us. AI, do you want to start?” He sounded nervous.

“Sure thing, CB….”


	4. Chapter 4

He sighed, lying down on his bed. Going to sleep was the worst part. It wasn’t natural, since he couldn’t close his eyes. He had to be medicated to get to sleep, until they could find a way to remove the ice so he could close his eyes. The blindfold was off, lying beside his bed. His parents had told him they had thick curtains over his windows so if he slept in, the sunlight wouldn’t hurt his eyes.

Numbness was slowly taking over his limbs, just like it did every night. It was like he was being pinned against his mattress by a heavy weight that would lie over his body, as if his thin blanket weighed a ton, pressing his arms and legs down.

Then something brushed against the sole of his foot, making him snap awake, forcing him to fight against the grip of the medicine. Lloyd’s head turned left and right, as if that would reveal what had touched his foot.

Outside of his room, the wind whispered softly, trying to soothe him, and lure him back to sleep. Lloyd couldn’t sleep. His heart was beating strong against his chest, like it was trying to escape from inside of him.

Licking his lips, Lloyd pushed his blanket back, feeling light headed and sleepy, but not wanting to rest until he knew there was nothing in his room. Standing, he swayed violently, and Lloyd knew he wasn’t going to last long. Instead of getting right back into his bed though, he began to walk towards the door of his room. Eight little steps which were all it would take for him to get to the door, and out into the hall.

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven-_

His foot met with the door, and Lloyd reached forward, grasping the handle tightly, opening it, and stepping out. Unable to see anything, Lloyd could feel his world spinning faster, and he lurched sideways, shoulder slamming into the wall.

Barely able to fight the medication any longer, Lloyd’s legs crumpled out from under him, and he felt himself falling, world darkening fast.

* * *

 

_ThudthudthudthudthudthudthudTHUD--CRACK._

Misako bolted upright, the book in her hands falling to the floor beside the couch. Draping the throw blanket over the back of the couch, she got up, walking towards the stairs. “Garmadon…? Are you—“Misako covered her mouth. At the bottom of the steps, crumpled into a heap was her son. His foot was bent in an unnatural direction. She fell to her knees beside him, scooping him into her arms.

Across his eyes, etched into the ice was a small symbol, which had a jagged crack through it from the fall. Lloyd coughed, twisting away from the light.

“Garmadon, I need your help!” She said, panicking. “Lloyd fell!”

In a flash, her husband was at the top of the stairs, looking down at them in horror. “What happened? I heard something falling, and I thought it was—“He shook his head, taking the stairs two at a time, falling to his knees, picking Lloyd’s slight frame up. “Should we take him to the doctor? To make sure he didn’t hurt himself?”

He shifted Lloyd in his arms, and their son cried out. Misako watched in horror, and then snapped into action, grabbing the car keys. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Lloyd was floating, suspended in air, like he was weightless. He was on his back, staring up at a dark, ceiling that had to be in a cave of some kind. Sunlight filtered through cracks and holds all around him, lighting up the space just barely.

Then it hit him.

_He could see._

The weird thing was he didn’t _want_ to see anymore. His eyes drifted around the cavern lazily, stopping at the sight of a pile of bones. On the ground beside of the skeletal remains of something long dead, was a flashlight, old, dull and dusty, the thick lens over the broken bulb had a thick crack, going from the bottom, fracturing outwards towards the top.

 _‘I know this place…’_ Lloyd realized. With a startled gasp, he looked around, praying _desperately_ that he was alone.

He wasn’t. It wasn’t just the one he expected. There were _hundreds_ of them, swarming closer, appearing in front of him, and surrounding him. Their clawed hands grabbed at his arms, dragging him deeper into the tomb.

 _‘Your fault.’_ One said, claws reopening the cuts on his arms. _‘You caused our end.’_

Lloyd shook his head vigorously. “No, I didn’t!! I didn’t!” He turned, looking at one in particular. “You got yourself killed!”

 _‘Doesn’t matter.’_ He said, eyes glimmering in the dark light. _‘You’re at fault. That’s why you can’t see anymore.’_ The corners of his mouth curled up in a twisted, sickening smile. _‘And that’s why we’re in your head.’_

 _‘Revenge…’_ One hissed, razor-sharp talon-like claws digging into his wrist, slicing through the veins. Bright red blood flowed freely from the cuts.

 _‘Blood for blood, flesh for flesh, enact our revenge, or meet your death.’_ They chanted. Each time they said it, the words seemed to echo louder and louder.

“No!” Lloyd shouted.

Everything was black again.

* * *

Kai knocked on the doorframe, seeing Lloyd sitting up in bed, a headset over his hair, and the thick bandages that were wrapped over his eyes, and then Lloyd spoke, not knowing Kai was there.

“I don’t know, CB. It _felt_ real.” He said. Kai could hear how shaken Lloyd sounded. “And I knew that I had—Don’t tell me that it was just my mind coming up with things! _HE_ was there! He was laughing at me!!” Lloyd’s voice jumped up an octave, sounding scared, and stressed. Kai knocked again on the doorframe, leaning against it. Lloyd still didn’t hear, and sighed. “CB, it’s getting worse. The doctors…they don’t know if the tea’s going to keep working.”

 _‘What about the tea? Sensei said it was supposed to work!’_ Kai thought, straightening up, looking at Lloyd, slowly stepping into the room.

Lloyd was silent for a few minutes, nodding a little. “I-I don’t know how— _if_ —I’m going to tell the others…”

Kai realized that Lloyd was talking with his support group, and quickly walked out of the room, Nya looking up from her book as Kai went back into the waiting room.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nya, they don’t think the tea’s going to keep working.” He said, the words coming out in a rush, just a single breath. “What if it _does_ stop working? What’ll happen to Lloyd?!”

“…You know what would happen, Kai.” She said quietly, eyes downcast, hidden partially by her long bangs.

They both knew. Everyone knew. Lloyd might not know…but that was probably for the better.

None of them wanted to admit that it was a possibility though.

* * *

 

“So you said you’re in the hospital again. What’s the damage?” AI asked when she heard the news after she came online to the chat room. Lloyd could tell she was sick, but that was one of the best parts of the online support chat room. You could be sick, but you could still be there.

“Broken ankle.” He said simply. His mom told him they gave him a green cast for it. “Are you sick, AI?”

“You should be resting if you are. We’re here if you can’t sleep, but if you don’t feel up to it, you can always sign off, and come back on when you feel up to it…”

“CB, calm down. I’m a grown woman, and I can take care of myself. If I need to go, I’ll let you and LG know. It’s just a little bit of bronchitis, I get this _every_ year. I’ve had it every year around this time since the third grade, CB. You’re starting to sound like my _mother_.” She said, laughing a little, her breath sounded raspy, and shallow, and Lloyd could hear her wheezing.

“Last time you had bronchitis, it turned into pneumonia, and you were in the hospital for weeks.” CB reminded with a light, friendly tone.

Lloyd knew he was—once again—the youngest in the group. KK was close, being in his early twenties, AI was in the middle, around her early thirties, and CB was the oldest, but he hadn’t said how old he was. Running his fingers over the scratchy, but very warm blanket over his lower half, Lloyd smiled.

At least, he tried to. The right side of his mouth cooperated, but the left stayed where it was. Slowly, Lloyd raised his hand to it, working hard to try to smile, but he couldn’t. His fingers found the answer _fast_.

The ice had spread further, now coating his left cheek, freezing the muscles from curling up to make a smile.

“LG? Is something wrong? You just got really quiet…” AI pried calmly, her gruff, airy voice reaching his ears. Lloyd didn’t answer her; he just sat there, fingers clawing at the ice, trying to pry it off his face.

“I-I have to go.” He said, hitting the button his mother had told him would disconnect him from the group.

 _‘It’s spreading… but I’m still drinking the tea! Why is it spreading?!’_ He panicked, heart pounding. Ripping the headset off, Lloyd could hear the frantic, rapid beating of his heart through the heart monitor.

He felt cold. It wasn’t just the cold he was used to, the external cold that resided in his fingers and toes and nose during the winter, but the kind of cold that sank deep into his bones, anchoring itself to his soul.

Something _had_ to be wrong.


End file.
